Former track and field star Carl Lewis has had a tough time campaigning in a Republican-leaning district. Watch video
Carl Lewis — tall, trim and freshly turned 50 — strode confidently from door to door in a middle-class neighborhood of Mount Holly on an evening last week.
The nine-time Olympic gold medalist was doing the legwork for his state Senate campaign. Lewis, a Democrat, was no stranger to residents.
Steve Soult, sitting in a boat parked on the street, called to Lewis that a friend had been on a championship-winning soccer team with him as a teenager.
Soult’s wife, Jean, drifted over. She told Lewis she had been a teacher’s assistant until the school made the position part-time, cutting her benefits.
“We used to always say (teachers are) underpaid,” Lewis answered. “Now we’re screaming at them.” This was Lewis in his element. A proud son of nearby Willingboro, he was well-known here — at least to those over 30.
“I’m a registered Republican, but I’ll vote for Carl,” Soult said. “When you know somebody and you know their character, and other people know their character, it makes it easy.”
But the ease with which the former track and field star pressed the flesh stands in stark contrast with the way his 4-month-old campaign has been going in this Republican-leaning district.
Since announcing in April that he planned to challenge Sen. Dawn Marie Addiego (R-Burlington), his campaign has sputtered amid legal wrangling about whether he meets the state’s four-year residency rule for state Senate candidates.
Though he grew up in Willingboro, he has lived in Houston and Los Angeles. He says he moved back to New Jersey in 2005, when he bought condos for himself and his mother. In 2007, he bought a home in Medford, where he now lives. But he voted in California as recently as 2009.
After Republicans challenged his residency status, an administrative law judge ruled he should stay on the ballot. But that was overturned by Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who also serves as secretary of state. She said he “did not yet own his home in New Jersey, did not otherwise live in New Jersey, did not file his taxes in New Jersey, was not registered to vote in New Jersey and did not have his business in New Jersey.”
Since then, Lewis’ campaign has been buried under a mountain of court papers. He appealed Guadagno’s decision in state and federal court. State courts refused to pick the case up, and U.S. District Court Judge Noel Hillman initially ruled Lewis did not meet the residency requirement. But a federal appeals panel ruled Lewis should remain on the ballot for now and returned the case to Hillman, asking him to rule on a different aspect of it. The case has not moved since May, leaving Lewis tenuously on the ballot.
Lewis has accused Gov. Chris Christie of trying to talk him out of running shortly before his campaign announcement and said Guadagno ignored important facts in her decision to yank him off the ballot.
“The secretary of state illegally threw me off the ballot at the direction of the governor,” he said. “It’s as clear as day.”
Republicans say Lewis’ campaign is bewildering. Chris Russell, a spokesman for Addiego, said Lewis issued a press release attacking Christie and calling for the restoration of items cut from the budget, then three weeks later unveiled a platform that called for a spending freeze and civility.
“It has been the most schizophrenic campaign I’ve ever seen,” Russell said. “From uncertainty whether he’s legitimate or not to what comes out of his mouth — it’s like predicting the weather.”
Lewis is noncommittal about a major issue that roiled state politics this year. He won’t say how he would have voted on the overhaul of pension and health care benefits for public workers that was signed into law.
“That’s a hypothetical,” he said. “I think it’s kind of amazing for people to ask me about a vote that I have nothing to do with.”
And although Lewis says his biggest campaign issue is education, he declined to take a stance on major issues facing state government, like school vouchers and merit pay for teachers.
“People don’t vote on what you’re going to vote on,” he insisted. “People vote on your character and what you believe in.”
Mount Holly was the 15th town where Lewis has gone door to door. He dismissed the legal challenge, saying he was certain residents will have a chance to vote for him in November.
“I will be on the ballot,” he said. “I absolutely guarantee it.”
Matt Friedman: (609) 989-0324 or mfriedman@starledger.com
Related coverage:
• Olympic track, field gold medalist Carl Lewis considers run for N.J. Senate
• Lt. Gov. Guadagno rules Carl Lewis doesn't meet residency requirement to run for N.J. Senate
• Federal court to rule on Carl Lewis bid for Senate seat, request to delay printing of ballots